


The body is the costume

by tevinterhexe



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Death, F/M, Horror, Nature of the Beast - Freeform, Violence, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 02:56:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tevinterhexe/pseuds/tevinterhexe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>think ‘Nature of the Beast’ meets our favourite DA2 elves, a gorgeous excuse to have Fenris transform into a wolf, blatantly AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	The body is the costume

**Author's Note:**

> A piece I wrote in September for [this fanart](http://askbroodyelf.tumblr.com/post/28208687881/theyd-make-good-mage-killers) by askbroodyelf on tumblr

They are out there in the forest, scent of copper and fade and origin in their nostrils.

It needs to end.

He can feel every single one of them, his children, sons and daughters. Can feel what they feel. Can see what they see. He hurts when they hurt. Howls when they howl. And when they die a piece of him dies with them.

Monsters just like him.

This curse is too strong. Deadly. He ripped his heart out of his chest just to see that it was still beating.

Clever little witch and he has to find her again.

His eldest comes to him with tales he has no need of, he already knows. Another camp of mages found, another camp of  mages obliterated. In his head they are still screaming. He still tastes their blood in his mouth through the link. They knew her and she is not far.

Maybe this time.

The change begins at his feet. Shrinking, toenails turning claws. The fur tickles where it sprouts. Balance is a problem and falling face down into the mud is never fun. He sinks on all fours in apprehension. Growing a tail, now this is where it becomes painful and he tries to scream, his fast changing vocal cords turning it into a howl. His ears travel up the side of his head, while his nose and mouth morph together. Expanding.

He runs, like back in time, that is how he knows he is running in the right direction, his children all following.

_\- Lethallin_ , the forest whispers in his ears and he shudders. 

_\- Don't call me that._

_\- I saw a bird the other day._

_\- I ate a bird this morning._

_\- I saw a bird. All black in black. I plucked a feather from its back and weaved it into my hair. It reminded me of him._

Whether she tells to cause him guilt or not, he cannot say. Mostly he is still angry, determined. He will find her. The night gets hazy.

_\- You can’t hide from me. Not this time._

_\- I won’t. Come to me, lethallin._

A growl tears itself from his throat.

Tear into her. For once be responsible, be responsible for the blood running down slender wrists. It’s what she owes him. Them.

Fewer trees mark his way. He is getting close. A clearing by night has no right to shine so bright; it hurts his eyes. The shedding of this borrowed skin is no more pleasant than its reverse. Maybe he has it all backwards and the skin is the body and the body the costume. Was there ever a man before the monster. He has no way of knowing.

“Fenris.”

She looks no older than she used to, still looks like a child. Appearances are deceiving and he already underestimated her once.

“Plucked a feather from his back? You are a master of understatement.”

It’s hard to tell where the plumage ends and the witch begins. She looks half a bird herself. Feathered pauldrons added almost as an afterthought.

“Will you eat me, too, then?”

“That is not all I did to him.” If this shakes her, it does not show. "You know, why I am here?"

"It makes me soft, I guess. Caring for you. He used to call me feeble for the affection I bear you. He never quite understood."

"What you did to me, you call that caring? You cursed me, witch!"

She plays her game with him, just like she always has. He should not be wasting time on words that will change nothing.

"You cursed them!"

No command needs to be given. As one his children move in on her and he sneers at her, baring his teeth.

"You will die tonight."

"It won't be enough, Fenris. Don't you remember?"

Nothing.

Anguished yelps fill his ears and mind, when sharp tendrils claw at paws. They barely moved at all. The witch still the only one standing in the middle of the clearing. He tries to step forward, but cannot move a muscle. All the more enraged for it.

“I don’t! Now tell me, whose fault is that?”

Her tentative smile is one of sorrow and grief. Before he knows it she appears in front of him, brandishing a dagger close to his heart.

“Do you want to die?”

“I cannot die.”

“You can by my hand. I made you, but I never meant for you to suffer. They deserved what they got. You have done nothing wrong. Just what was asked of you.”

Bits and pieces, everything into its place. He searched this knowledge. What he is. Not cursed, but a curse himself.

“I’m a demon.”

“Oh Fenris! You’re more than that now.”

He is not listening. Fighting invisible bonds. His mind is in turmoil and for the first time he notices the link going both ways, as his children squirm where they are entangled up to the waist in vines, channelling his anguish.

The witch is carding delicate fingers through his hair. Waits it out. _\- Hush now, lethallin!_ She tilts his head and kisses him on the cheek. _\- We can make it right._

His breathing slows. He can look her in the eye to see, if she means it, and is too scared to do it.

“Do you want to die?”

The curse will end once they are both dead. She kisses his lips. Her dagger kisses the skin on his chest. A step further may pierce it. Two steps... What mirrors the position of the cold iron is a claw, glowing blue already, positioned just where her heart lies. Plunge forwards now. Can he move again?

_\- I’m..._

Is this what dying should feel like?

_\- Sorry, lethallin._

He never died before.

_\- Don’t call me that._


End file.
